[Fridge and Stove favorites?]

Hi, all, I am in the market for a new fridge and stove. What are your favorites and why? What should I avoid and why?

 

Thanks!

[So my boss called me into his office today...]

Woot! :hurray:

[Have you heard any chitchat in your area about how Common Core is going in everyday life?]

I train teachers to use a cc math program and what I see pretty consistently is that many elementary teachers themselves have number sense gaps and find it difficult to teach number sense well because of that. By and large, middle school teachers don't have that issue. Also, since cc requires kids to explain their thinking, I see a huge improvement in that department on the part of the kids. Where it is implemented well, it is beautiful to watch in action in the class room. Where it is implemented poorly, it can be disaster. Often, teachers don't have time to do the self-study they need to do to get themselves up to speed to teach it well.

 

On the other hand, I was in a school yesterday that was doing a bang-up job, and I have never been so impressed with a public school. So the news is not all bad.

 

I have no idea about implementation for Common Core in anything other than math.

[Favorite playthings for 6 year old boys?]

DS says duct tape and string. He's not 6 anymore but seems to remember those days well. 

:)

[Are you a twin?]

I'm not, but at the airport on Sunday I saw twins in their 60s dressed in matching halloween outfits. They had black t-shirts under some classy-ish plaid button-downs with gold spider webs on the front. Creepy. lol

[If you dislike IEW what then?]

I use Michael Clay Thompson, Killgallon, and Susan Wise Bauer's recommendations, and both of mine are writing pretty well now. Wordsmith Apprentice helped a bit too, I think. :)

Susan

[How much weight did your mother's opinion have when you chose a wedding gown?]

Well, I had mine made from a picture in a magazine, using lace from her dress (she wore a short cocktail affair in the 60's) and raw silk, which we purchased together. We sewed on all the pearls together. So, she was very much a part of it, but I chose the design. :)

[Bed wetting on a budget]

....

 

Is there anything I can do, short of getting a part time job to pay for all this??

....

 

Yes. Purchase a fish tank over-flow alarm. Cut down the wire. Attach to a snap in the underwear at the point of wetting. Make a pouch for the alarm to fit around the child's waist. Sleep on floor in child's room. As soon as the alarm goes off, spring up and make sure the child fully wakes up. Usher him to the bathroom. Do this every time for 2 or 3 nights until he or she is no longer sleeping through the potty cues.

 

Most other alarms don't work because the urine has to soak through several layers of clothing. The trick is to wake the child up as soon as the alarm goes off so that he or she can begin to wake him or herself up. It worked in one night for my bedwetter. Others I have heard take up to 3 nights. 

[Best breastfeeding stories]

One time, when dd was about 20 months old, she came up with milk streaming all over her chin and crying. I wondered if something was poking her or what in the world had happened and I asked her what was wrong.

"Want dat choc-lit milk!" she sobbed. Sorry, babe, it's only got one flavor! lol

From then on ds was convinced that he was being cheated because *he* didn't get chocolate milk, either!

[Where to go for a trip for a 10 year old?]

Where can I get an Aunt like that? lol

[DD is getting to be on a podcast.]

How fun!

Do you have a link?

[Google Plus "circles" - tell me about it (take a break from Laura's thread just for a second) :)]

Yes, you can make *your* posts private. However, I don't want to see everyone else's public posts. I haven't figured out how to block those from a bunch of people I don't know.

[Google Plus "circles" - tell me about it (take a break from Laura's thread just for a second) :)]

I use Google Plus to keep up with family and conduct a daily math class via hangout. It's nice to be able to do that. What I don't like is seeing every one's post from all over the web, public posts. Some are just *blech*. Haven't figured out how to narrow it.

[iPad Mini? Anyone have one yet? reviews? Decided not to puchase?]

Have it, really like it. Got the logitech magnetic bluetooth keyboard. Really surprised how useful it is. Highly recommended. :thumbup:

[Keep or toss?]

Just FYI, you need to keep 4 years of successive school records showing that you were in the States for 4 straight years before age 18 if you ever want to prove citizenship for future kiddos. I had no idea of this rule and had to scramble for school records from overseas some years ago.

 

Other than that, toss if you need to.

[Did anyone else see this?]

...

My favorite line of the article was the 122 year old French woman who smoked heavily umtil age 100...why in the heck would you cut back at 100!?

 

I remember her! She also said, "I've got one wrinkle, and I'm sitting on it!" LOL

[How can I save the rest of this big bunch of cilantro?]

Chop.

Place on cookie sheet on a layer of plastic wrap.

Freeze.

Remove plastic wrap from cookie sheet.

Dump frozen cilantro into a quart freezer bag.

Place back in freezer.

Use as needed.

 

Did this just yesterday. Works great, keeps for a few months.

[Homeschool Vendor Randy Miller passed away this morning]

Ah, I love visiting their booth every year. Just bought some stuff online from them and left a little note. How sad. :(

[I am an "exercise hater"...]

My mom got me a fitbit for my birthday, and, as an exercise resist-er, I love it. I have been going on a walk every day just to hit my goal of 10K steps and 10 flights of stairs. Everyone else in the family has been joining me!

 

It's been a real treat to get out for a good ramble every night, and my fitbit helps me track how well I am doing through the day. I have the FitBit One, but they have a wrist band now that I think you can wear swimming, too.

[Raw Milk--Yea or Nay?]

No way, no how. This is a highly controversial topic here, and you'll get a load of differing answers. However, you should know that the cleanliness of the facility can't prevent an infected deer from getting into the cow pasture and sharing the same hay as the cows who will be milked later.

 

Brucellosis is no laughing matter.

[Would your child eat these cakes?]

Um... they would, but that's only if they had a chance. DH and I would have given them a run for their money. :) They sound phenomenal!

[Who's going to tackle Friday with me?]

I'm in. Already done: misc work stuff and school stuff.

On the way: finish tackling my paper work/file piles.

I think I can, I think I can......

[College boy needing pots and pans for apartment is an excuse to by new stuff for ME, right?]

If you win the lottery, get Bourgeat. They make All Clad (which aren't bad) pale in comparison.

 

Here is a link to my favorite pan ever:

 

http://www.knifemerc...CFYU5Qgod4zcACw

 

Bill

 

 

:w00t: Wowzers, what a price tag!

[Stop Animation]

XPOST:

DS would like to get into stop animation a bit more. Does anyone know of a really good app for this for iPad that would allow him to stitch together video and add sound?

Thanks!

 

ETA: There are too many apps in the iTunes store for a novice to figure out which would actually be best. I have already downloaded a couple, but I was hoping someone here would be able to recommend a great one, even if it costs a bit.

[Stop Animation Apps]

Anyone?